NDOT awards $17 million contract for U.S. 95 work

The Nevada Department of Transportation on Tuesday awarded a $17.1 million construction contract to Road and Highway Builders LLC to improve a 32-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 95 in Nye County.

The six-month project calls for placing new asphalt pavement and turn lanes, plus creating a new two-mile-long northbound passing lane, widening freeway shoulders and flattening side slopes for safer vehicle turnouts.

“This state funding project will greatly enhance this critical stretch of rural freeway, creating a smoother, more efficient and safer traveling experience,” NDOT spokesman Tony Illia said.

Other upgrades entail drainage and lighting improvements, installing Intelligent Transportation System wiring and conduit and hydro-seeding 4.4 acres and transplanting 366 trees. The project additionally calls for moving enough dirt to fill 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools and placing enough blacktop to pave 13,000 average driveways. The undertaking will add 95 miles of rumble strips, place 400 cubic yards of riprap and install tortoise fencing and a cattle guard.

The enhancements run along U.S. Highway 95 between mile markers 72 and 104, or roughly from 12 miles north of Beatty to 4 miles south of the Nye/Esmeralda County line. This stretch of freeway averages roughly 8,400 vehicles daily, with 18% of traffic coming from heavy truck travel.

Construction is expected to start in September, with work occurring 6 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. There will be flaggers and pilot car operation in place, safely escorting motorists through the active work zone.

The contractor is expected to work in up to 2-mile increments. Motorists can expect up to 30-minute travel delays. The project, which is anticipated to finish in the spring of 2021, will create 222 direct, indirect and induced jobs.

Motorists should use caution while traveling through the work zone, heed construction signage and take alternate detour routes, if possible. NDOT works with Waze to inform the public about planned highway restrictions, but unscheduled construction changes, closures and restrictions are possible because of weather or other factors.

For the latest state highway conditions, visit nvroads.com or call 511 before driving.